Cardinals QB Kyler Murray’s status for Week 17 is uncertain

The Arizona Cardinals managed to pull off an impressive win against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 16. Unfortunately, quarterback Kyler Murray was unable to close out the 27-13 victory.

Murray was forced to exit the game with a hamstring injury in the third quarter. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury addressed whether or not he will be able to play in the 2019 NFL season finale versus the Los Angeles Rams, via ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss:

“I couldn’t make a guess,” Kingsbury said. “We obviously won’t put him out there if he wasn’t a hundred percent.”

Kingsbury’s comments are certainly understandable. Arizona is not playing for much at this point in the 2019 campaign and Murray has already proven he is more than capable of filling the role as their future franchise quarterback.

Regardless, the timing of the injury is certainly unfortunate. Murray had been in the midst of a solid outing against a formidable Seahawks opponent after completing 11-of-18 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown to go with 40 yards on six carries. Although their 5-9-1 record was disappointing, they can take solace in the fact that the investment they made with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft has started to pan out.

This is all the more reason for the Cardinals to take a cautious approach with Murray’s status for Week 17. While the Rams have also fallen vastly short of expectations this season, trotting the rookie out at less than 100 percent against defensive tackle Aaron Donald may not be the wisest decision.